As the Federal Aviation Authority reauthorization moves through Congress, leading airline labor unions have quickly coalesced in their opposition to a section of the bill that would enable commercial pilots to fly beyond age 65.
“We’ve had an unprecedented safety record for more than a decade and now some are saying ‘let’s change things and see what happens,’” Dennis Tajer, spokesman for Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, said Thursday. “Unstudied and untested ideas like this are unnecessary and reckless.
“That this became the symbolic issue on the FAA reauthorization is pretty stunning,” Tajer said. “It would mean our hiring would be cut and our retraining costs will rise.” Most senior pilots fly widebody aircraft that serve international routes, but many countries do not allow commercial pilots over 65. The pilots would have to retrain at a time when pilot training is slowing airline staffing, he said.
The Air Line Pilots Association, representing 74,000 pilots at 42 airlines, and the Association of Flight Attendants, representing 50,000 flight attendants at 19 airlines, are united with APA in fighting the increase to age 67 flying.
AFA President Sara Nelson said Wednesday, “The worldwide retirement age for pilots is 65, so this would require renegotiating ALPA contracts. At the end of their careers, pilots are flying international widebodies. What are we going to do with them? Put them on the 737 or 190 at their current pay rates?
“So many things are not thought through here,” Nelson said.
Additionally, in a letter to Congress, ALPA President Jason Ambrosi wrote, “It has been argued that changing the retirement age will increase the supply of pilots. Rather, it will likely increase the cost of pilots for air carriers, as pilot utilization for older pilots is relatively low.” Ambrosi said the International Civil Aviation Organization would be unlikely to raise its retirement age based on a change in U.S. law, since EASA, the European safety regulator, opposes such a change.
On Wednesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved the roughly 800-page FAA bill by a 63-0 vote. Earlier, in a narrow 32-31 vote, the committee voted for an amendment that would raise the age to 67.
The amendment has won strong support from Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. It is sponsored by U.S. Congressman Troy Nehls, R-Texas. Nehls spokesman Taylor Hulsey said the opposition “is pure ageism. Nothing in this bill changes the rigorous health and safety standards in place.
“The U.S. Travel Association, National Air Carriers Association, the regionals, and AARP all support this legislation,” Hulsey said. “Several nations, such as Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc., have higher age limits, and no one says they compromise safety.
“In 2006, the mandatory retirement age was 60,” Hulsey said. “The US granted a waiver to foreign pilots over the age of 60. There’s no reason the US can’t negotiate a deal again.”
Some have argued that Nehls supports the change because his brother, a Delta pilot, is also a member of the group Raise the Pilot Age, which says on its website, “We are in favor of an increase in the mandatory pilot retirement age and disagree with the positions that our unions have taken.
“In 2007, when the retirement age changed from 60 to 65, we heard many of the same arguments in opposition,” the group said on the website,
. “These arguments were primarily focused on a decrease in safety,” it said. “The fact is that history has proven those arguments false. We believe that the experience level of pilots on our flight decks is critical to air safety, whether flying passengers or cargo.”
Hulsey said that Nehls’ brother is 60, “far from the retirement age.” He said, “The idea that Rep. Nehls, a member of the T&I committee, cannot weigh in on important matters during the FAA reauthorization — when a simple Google search highlights how severe the pilot shortage is — is laughable.”
Aside from the age 65 issue, the FAA authorization bill is favorable for many in labor, said John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents about 70,000 airline workers including fleet service workers, flight attendants, mechanics and dispatchers.
“The bill is full of things we’ve been working on for a long time, including some really significant personal goals of mine, mitigating offshoring of airline maintenance,” Samuelsen said. Additionally, he said, the bill helps to protect flight attendants from assault and prohibits flight dispatching from home.
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.